The present invention relates to a stacking system consisting of a tray-like component that accommodates articles in interior troughs and of a stacking component. Stacking systems of this type are employed in what is called ordered work-piece storage in conjunction with machine-tool operations involving automatic tool changing or with robots.
These stacking systems consist of stacking components in the form of an outer container and of components in the form of an inner container that accommodate the articles to be stacked and fit inside the stacking components. The inner container is employed to coordinate and order tool storage in such a way that the tools can be automatically removed from troughs in the container in a prescribed orientation.
The outer containers in systems of this type are stacked with the inner containers inside them and with their bottom resting on the edge of the outer container just below. Since the outer containers are all the same size, the free space above the articles in the inner container is unexploited when the articles are short in length and takes up room that could potentially be used for storage. The only way to avoid this situation is to provide a special outer container with specific measurements as well as an inner container that matches the articles being stored for each type of article. The drawback of keeping such a large number of different types of container on hand is obvious.